Safety Leadership Charter, Guiding Principle #3: “Guide the integration of safety into business strategies, processes, and performance measures.”
Safety Leadership Charter, Guiding Principle #5: “Create an atmosphere of trust, where employees are encouraged and confident to report safety-related information.
Initiation: Voluntary Adoption
Air Astana Group began its Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) journey in 2012, driven by a proactive commitment to operational safety and crew wellbeing. At that time, FRMS was not a regulatory requirement, and the airline took on the challenge voluntarily, recognizing fatigue as a key operational risk that required systematic management.
The company’s early efforts focused on reviewing fatigue reports submitted by crew members and evaluating roster patterns that could contribute to fatigue. The Safety Action Groups played a central role during this initial phase, activating internal alert mechanisms to prevent the planning of potentially fatiguing pairing combinations and strengthening awareness across operational departments.
The safety leadership initiative is driven by the desire to create a safer workplace, reduce incidents, engage employees, and foster a continuous improvement culture around safety practices.
Scientific Integration and Group Alignment
A significant milestone in Air Astana development was the introduction of dedicated fatigue risk management team. With the support of initial FRMS training and the acquisition of first bio-mathematical model (BMM), Air Astana began embedding scientific analysis into the processes.
Although the first model was not yet integrated with the core operations system, it allowed to establish minimum alertness thresholds, benchmark performance indicators, and assess individual fatigue reports using a data-driven approach. These efforts helped understand where the company stood and whether the mitigation strategies were effective, all while building an FRMS framework from the ground up.
As the system evolved, Air Astana continued to enhance its FRMS maturity and integration. The company transitioned to a new BMM – the Boeing Alertness Model by Jeppesen (BAM) fully integrated into the core operations platform AIMS improving both predictive capability and operational efficiency. The airline also engaged external consultants, conducted surveys, and actively participated in industry bodies such as IATA and AAPA. The annual Safety Seminars brought together the national regulator, international organizations, safety experts, and internal stakeholders, fostering collaboration and reinforcing a shared safety culture.
With the launch of the low-cost carrier FlyArystan in 2019, Air Astana ensured that the same high level of fatigue-risk oversight was maintained across the entire Air Astana Group. Group-wide alignment became a priority to guarantee consistent safety standards, regardless of business model or operational profile.
System Enhancement and Training Maturity
Over time, the company established a regular and structured fatigue-risk assessment cycle for upcoming seasons and monthly roster periods. This enabled to proactively identify future operational and scheduling challenges and implement appropriate fatigue-mitigation strategies. For any significant operational or organizational changes, a robust Management of Change process was integrated to ensure risks were identified, evaluated, and effectively controlled.
The company’s collaboration with the regulator has also improved, particularly as the group prepare for alignment with EASA regulations.
In the past years, Air Astana revitalized the Fatigue Safety Action Group (FSAG) to ensure more active and effective performance.
This year, responsible staff completed the FRM training course for operational staff and FSAG members. In addition, several colleagues successfully completed the Train-the-Trainer course, enabling them to deliver FRM training to others within the organization and further strengthen our internal expertise.
Also fatigue training program for crew and operational staff was revised and updated, increasing FRMS awareness across all organizational levels.
A major recent achievement was the implementation of the Jeppesen Crew Pairing and Rostering Optimizers, fully integrated with BAM FRMS system in both planning and day-of-operations tracking. This step significantly enhanced the airline’s ability to design and monitor schedules with safety and fatigue-risk considerations at the forefront. Also the Safety Performance Indicators were refined to ensure data accuracy, relevance, and improved decision-making.
In the past years, Air Astana revitalized the Fatigue Safety Action Group (FSAG) to ensure more active and effective performance.
This year, responsible staff completed the FRM training course for operational staff and FSAG members. In addition, several colleagues successfully completed the Train-the-Trainer course, enabling them to deliver FRM training to others within the organization and further strengthen our internal expertise.
Also fatigue training program for crew and operational staff was revised and updated, increasing FRMS awareness across all organizational levels.
